It’s not often that someone accidentally stumbles onto a career.
Mike Hofer did.
He owns Buildings and Transport LLC in Ore, Texas, which has been operating successfully since 2016.
And he freely admits he accidentally became a shed hauler.
“I bought a portable building from a local dealer out of Pittsburg, Texas,” shares Hofer.
“At the time, I was a school bus driver and part-time mechanic. The day of delivery, the owner of the company that I purchased the building from showed up with the delivery driver and we chatted while the driver set the building.
“During our conversation, he asked what I did for a living, and so I told him about my current occupation and my 15-year history in trucking.”
Not long after Hofer took delivery of his shed, the owner of the shed manufacturer called and asked if he would be able to deliver a building. The owner was in a bind because his driver was out sick.
“I agreed,” Hofer says. “Well, his driver never returned. I decided to quit driving the school bus and went into delivering buildings full time.
“I continued to drive for him for a few months until I was involved in an accident where an older gentleman pulled out in front of me and totaled the truck.
“The owner of the shed company didn’t want to buy another truck, so I bought my own rig and started Mike the Mover, which is now Buildings and Transport LLC.”
Hofer alternately describes his first year in business as interesting and “the worst,” which can be expected with no experience in hauling portable structures.
“Many things happened that made the job harder,” he says. “The first year was the worst trying to figure out how to haul buildings with no prior experience—and no training. It was like, ‘Here’s a truck and trailer, go move buildings.’
“I spent a long time in the trucking industry, but that is nothing like delivering buildings.”
Hofer says that shed haulers need to have skills in many areas besides driving a truck.
“You have to learn how to be a salesman, learn a little bit of carpentry,” he points out. “You have to have pretty good problem-solving skills. You have to have good people skills. You have to be patient.
“And you have to learn how to put square pegs in round holes. Then you can start learning how to haul sheds.”
But Hofer is a long way from year one. Today, his business is thriving. Buildings and Transport has several trucks, and two of those are dedicated shed movers. He owns escort trucks and all that is necessary to move sheds, like two Mule 6’s.
The company moves sheds for both shed builders and the public. He says they will move anything capable of being moved with the company’s equipment, including shipping containers.
“I haven’t kept up with how many sheds I’ve moved annually, but I’m sure it’s a lot!” Hofer says. “I have two amazing women running my sales lot/office. I have two drivers, and I’m the backup driver.
“We also have a few helpers who do the leveling and escorting who are amazing at what they do.
Hofer likes to say that Buildings and Transport’s mileage range is “anywhere, really—if it pays.
“But generally, anywhere within 300 miles, and even then, we sometimes have to refer them to other movers if they are far from us and we are booked up.”
And what shed hauler doesn’t have a “most difficult/odd shed delivery” story? Hofer’s involves delivering a portable structure to the side of a Hill.
“The building was trying to roll downhill, and the Mule was stretched to its max height,” he shares. “We had to use jacks to get it level, and it took us two days to get it right!
“Along with breaking a lot of things in the process, cutting trees down, and all the hell we went through for it to get delivered, just for it to get repo’d not long afterward.
“It was a stressful and exhausting day.”
Buildings and Transport works with Rent-to-Own companies and resells sheds that they repo. The company also does consignment sales for General Shelters and other builders.
“We do sell buildings for anyone,” says Hofer. “We mostly sell to people driving by, but a lot of business comes from advertising on Facebook and other social media networks.
“Shed sales are about 30 percent of what we do in all.”
And while Hofer will continue to move sheds and other portable structures, the future of Buildings and Transport will feature other opportunities, including more sales.
“Our future will include opening other lots in other areas and adding some more business opportunities like dirt work and land clearing to our expertise,” he shares.
“The land services goes with our sales, so we could make pads, clear areas, and build driveways for people purchasing buildings.”
